Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Recipe: Thai Vegan Curry Soup

Those who know my penchant for spicey food can't be surprised that I would manage to come up with a curry soup but this is sweet and tangy with orange vegetables and not overpowering. It's perfectly warming in winter and the Thai spices are great for a cold . This has the the added bonus of being Vegan and still quite special.

Heat the vegetable oil in a good soup pan, add the onions and fry slowly while preparing other vegetables. First peel and dice the carrot and add to the onion, stirring occasionally.

Cooking vegetables at the right speed is usually about density - hard vegetables take longer to cook.

Then peel and dice the sweet potato and add to the existing vegetables, by now the carrot should be looking reasonably softened. Dice the pumpkin into large pieces as pumpkin disintegrates quickly.

Add a little water and the green curry paste and stir until all the vegetables are coated. Be very careful when choosing a Green Curry Paste as many of them contain fish sauce or shrimp paste Lee Kum Kee which you can buy in all Asian supermarkets and some larger Western supermarkets is animal product free. Otherwise you can make your own paste to this recipe - Galangal and lemon grass are key, do not substitute these spices as the taste is unique.

Now add the coconut cream and enough hot water to cover the vegetables; should be at least 2 more cans worth of water. Allow to boil until the vegetables are soft and the pumpkin begins to misshape when you poke it with utensils.

Take the soup off the heat and add the minced coriander and lemon grass; if you do not have easy access to fresh herbs many good quality varieties are available in jars in the Asian section of supermarkets.

With a stab mixer blend the soup until smooth, the sweet potato and coconut should lend this a creamy consistency once mixed.

This is great on its own or with toast, or for a crunchy topping try a small amount of bamboo shoots, fresh lemon grass or strips of capsicum.